Blazers put away the Thunder in the second half, 103-93

In terms of just the box score, the wasn’t much separation between the Thunder and Blazers Tuesday night. The Blazers shot 44.7 percent from the field, Oklahoma City 43.9. Portland made 34 baskets, OKC 36. Portland six 3-pointers, OKC five. Turnovers, nine for the Blazers, 10 for the Thunder.

And yet the Thunder lost 103-93. That difference came directly from one place: the free throw line. Portland, 29-36; OKC 16-21.

There’s no way around it. The Blazers got the extra points from the charity stripe and the Thunder struggled, finding empty possessions in the second half, scoring just 40 points the last 24 minutes.

The good 5-0 start hid some deficiencies within the team that are now fairly glaring. KD can’t always bail out the Thunder offense. The Thunder need Westbrook’s scoring. The defense hasn’t been all that great. The transition game comes and goes. It’s tough to beat good teams on back-to-back nights and on these two, the Mavericks and Blazers beat OKC down in the second half. While both of those teams had answers in their halfcourt set, the Thunder had to hope Durant could explode and start dropping big shots. The Thunder aren’t winning many games where KD goes 8-26 and only shoots four free throws. Really, I have a hard time believing they’d win any. His scoring is simply too important not to get.

The Thunder didn’t have an answer for LaMarcus Aldridge (30 points on 10-19 shooting), both inside and out. Serge Ibaka picked up two quick fouls defending him and played only 14 minutes. Perk saw a lot of time on him but had trouble staying in front of him. Nick Collison is too short to challenge his shot adequately. It was just an all-around tough matchup.

It’s impossible though to capture this game without talking about the officiating some. It’s not THE reason the Thunder lost by any stretch — the Blazers straight outplayed OKC in the second half — but it certainly played a part. OKC shot 15 fewer free throws than the Blazers and KD, normally a guy seeing 8-10 free throws a game, couldn’t get a call, taking just four freebies. I’m not necessarily saying the officiating was slanted against the Thunder, but the whistle certainly didn’t lean OKC’s way. Scott Brooks got hit with a technical and Durant was openly frustrated after a he was bumped hard on a drive but Portland got a jump ball called on it instead. It was a bit striking to me to watch Durant attack, draw some contact and come up empty-handed. It very well may not have been a foul, but at least half the time, he’s getting a whistle in that situation, i.e. the superstar treatment.

The Thunder’s offense works on a couple principles: Kevin Durant being awesome, Westbrook attacking and scoring and the team getting to the line and making their shots. Two of those three things didn’t happen in this one. KD struggled shooting and the Thunder just couldn’t get to the line with any regularity.

And if you want to say, “Well the Thunder weren’t attacking and the Blazers were!” well, the shot chart would disagree with you. The Thunder attacked and tried to score in the paint, but the Blazers either collapsed and defended really well, or got away with a couple of fouls. It happens. It’s the NBA.

Portland on the other hand was able to rely on high quality shots on the inside between Gerald Wallace and LaMarcus Aldridge. While the Thunder had to scramble for good looks, the Blazers got them consistently in the second half.

NOTES:

James Harden started (Thabo was out with a sore foot that had flu-like symptoms or something) and played really well for the most part. He had 23 points on 7-13 shooting and carried OKC offensively for a good portion of the game. He started the game though 6-7 for 20 points and made just one of his last six. He had six assists, three steals and four rebounds to go with it and overall was great. He just didn’t finish well, but I thought everything looked really good with him starting.

I was curious as to how Scott Brooks would handle the rotation with Harden starting. KD played the entire first while Westbrook and Harden sat the final four minutes. Harden started the second quarter with the traditional second unit. It looked like for the most part Brooks wanted to keep one of those three on the floor at all times, but did go with a group without any for a short stint in the third quarter. I asked Brooks if he paid a little closer attention to how the rotation worked and didn’t with Harden starting and he totally didn’t answer my question, instead just talking about how Thabo is a good defender and has value to the team.

KD just struggled to make shots. Gerald Wallace is one of the best defenders for Durant, using his body and hands as well as anyone. At the same time KD, missed quite a few solid looks we’re used to seeing him make.

Harden started the game 3-4 from 3, but missed his last three from deep.

Daequan Cook played, but wore Amare-style rec specs. He couldn’t decide whether or not to keep them on as he would throw them to the bench and then put them back on periodically. He wore them to see if they helped with his flu-like symptoms that included some headaches. He didn’t shoot the ball well, going just 1-5 from the floor and 0-3 from 3.

Brooks said he though Westbrook had maybe his best game this season and I agree.Westbrook had three assists in the first five minutes of the game and finished with eight to three turnovers. And he probably would’ve had 11 or 12 if KD could’ve knocked down a few of the looks Russ set him up for. Westbrook scored 22, but on 8-18 shooting but most of his shots were fairly quality.

Quality Scott Brooks quote before the game: “We didn’t expect to go undefeated. That would’ve been a really cool season if that had happened.” Also not going 65-1 now.

KD’s free throw shooting is becoming a thing. One, because he’s not taking very many, but he missed two more in this one. I don’t know what the deal is, but KD is far too good a shooter to hit under 80 percent from the line.

Harden’s fullcourt fastbreak passing is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

At times, Westbrook was a tad aggressive on the ball gambling for steals. Ray Felton has a strong handle and once he broke through Westbrook’s swiping, forced the Thunder defense to collapse and rotate. Westbrook’s defensive energy was appreciated, but it’s got to be channeled in the right places at the right times.

Perk and Aldridge got into it pretty good late in the fourth. Perk had been on Aldridge, trying to get under his skin for a good part of the second half and finally broke him. He pulled the classic Perk move of just standing in one place while Aldridge tried to go around him. Perk didn’t really start it, but he kind of did.

The halftime show was that dude that dresses up like the Village People and dances. My question: How does he not get completely sick of doing the same thing every night? Don’t you think every now and then he asks himself, “Why do I have to be the Indian? Why can’t I be the police officer this time?”

Brian Davis Line of the Night via @DustRagu: “Papa Perkins picked a pack of Portland…”

Next up: Two days off before OKC starts its back-to-back-to-back off with the Rockets at home.

I think that the lack of free throws and bench scoring is what has bitten the Thunder on the butt these last two games. Those are usually the things that bail us out when KD or Russ are having a rough night. Although I like how Harden is starting to work with the starters, at this point it's not really an improvement because all we've done is shuffle the scoring problems from the first team to the second team. I think we're asking too much of James to have him handle Thabo's defensive assignment while being the extra scoring punch for the first team, and still try to be the spark plug for the second team. That's a LOT of work, especially with these games coming so close together.

Please stop trying to make this game a referendum on Thabo vs. Harden starting. KD shot 8-26. Trying to assign blame to line-ups when your star guy struggles to make open shots doesn't make any sense. It wasn't a great game from the Thunder, but they had some good looks down the stretch and the shots just didn't fall. That's going to happen to a team that relies on shooting, particularly when we're having trouble getting things going in the paint.

I'm going to continue to be cautiously optimistic about the upcoming b2b2b. I'm thinking that sleeping in their own beds for a few nights and having an actual practice (maybe instituting some sort of halfcourt offense?) will do wonders for our team. Plus, we match up solid with Houston and a Manu-less Spurs at home for the 3rd game is a pretty solid draw for our b2b2b.

Dude, it's pretty weak to call out the officiating - I thought it was pretty fair. To be honest, if anyone got away with a bunch of fouls, it was Westbrook on the perimeter. Additionally, the Thunder were in the penality at 8:17 in the first quarter and ~6:30 in the 4th quarter, in with the exception of the end-of-game foulfest, did not give up a single Penalty Free Throw. Additionally they were called for no loose-ball fouls (I don't think either team was, actually). The only two 'bad' calls i thought was the Westbrook push on Aldridge going out-of-bounds and the call on Aldridge for tripping over Westbrook after a rebound.

The guys looked aimless on offense out there. There was uncertainty and at times it appeared they didn't really know the plays. Guys will move to set a pick and then seem hesitant like they don't know if they're in the right place. Guys would occasionally make cuts but no one would look in their direction. Basically the half court set just lack any sort of fluidity. And if Durant's shot isn't falling and we aren't getting to the line we have no way to manufacture a good look because of the poor offensive execution.

In his pre-game interview, Maynor said that they needed to pass the ball more instead of going one-on-one, which guys had been doing a lot. The way he said it sounded like too many guys are free-lancing instead of sticking with the game plan. I think we saw that again tonight. There were too many trips where we made one pass or less before throwing up a shot.

This should have been the perfect game for us because the Thunder did what everyone has been calling for. We got rid of Thabo...started Harden...and compensated for the loss of Harden's scoring with the 2nd team by changing up our rotations so that Russ, KD, or James was on the floor at all times. Wasn't that supposed to fix everything and make the Thunder unbeatable?

Whats up with KD at the charity stripe? In 09/10 he was automatic. Last year his numbers dipped a bit. In fact I thought he might have been missing a few on purpose. This year Perk is hitting at the charity stripe better than KD. I don't understand how that is happening.

-I'm going to keep saying this all season. We're going to struggle against any team that can match us bench for bench. We saw it with Minnesota, Dallas and now Portland. All legitimately go about 9 or 10 deep.

Let's face it. Our starting 5 isn't all that good. Our biggest advantage against most teams is our bench and when another team can cancel that out with their bench, we're going to struggle.

Cook had a bad game but I think it's because he is a rhythm shooter who needs to be comfortable and I think his eyewear made him uncomfortable. He needs to use the next two days of practice to get used to the googles. Or get him some contact lenses.

I was so pissed watching Jamal Crawford because I knew what a big signing that was for them at just $5 million a year. I can't believe they got him at that bargain price. And also, whoever on this board said Batum was "overrated" needs to re-think that.

i was at this game! my first thunder game and despite the loss, it was an amazing experience. Hard to talk too, voice almost gone. So much different in person. The first half was pretty good. Then its like in the second half the refs just swallowed their whistle on the thunder. The old guy sitting behind me said it best. Refs just dont have respect for a small market team. I dont wanna believe him but this is the second game in a row where the opposing team got more calls. Anywhos, despite all that, ill def be going to another thunder game soon.

We played a few great half court defensive possessions in the fourth after the game had already been lost. We were scrambling everywhere in the best way with constant ball pressure and tight rotations. It was jarring how different we looked on those few possessions to how we've looked for the rest of the season.

Off topic, but where can I get one of those Thunder the F**K Up shirts? Saw some at the game tonight and really liked it. I personally wouldn't where it to the games (not that family friendly), but it'd be great for watch parties with friends, etc.

The thunder shot really well there first 5 games, aside from Russ, and thats not the type of thing you can hang your hat on. Neither is fast break points. You have to dig in on defense, which we havent really done for a full quarter this year, much less a game. Also there are the obvious problems with lack of offensive sets... As crazy as it sounds, the best thing for this team will be early losses... Without the practice time to drill these things or a coach who knows how to drill them, the thunder have to learn the hard way.

Side note- Saw the village people guy tonight- I wouldnt put a dollar in his bucket if I passed him headed to work... It was just odd. Ive heard Rocye talk about him and cant believe he has been the entertainment multiple times... Id rather see a gorilla dunking off a trampoline any day.T

@tmoks Spurs are gonna be tough to beat. Richard Jefferson has been hot shooting the ball, which may shift some of KD's effort towards defense. And on the 3rd of 3 in a row..If OKC starts out slow offensively the Spurs might run us off the court in a hurry.

@Beezy Bull. That kind of officiating will have NBA right up there with professional wrestling for public trust. The ref was 5 ft away from and watching the out of bounds he gave wrong. The tackle and slame down should have been an unnecessary roughness penalty at least, it looked like football - whatever - no call. It was embarrassing. To think that kids get this as our lesson to them - what lesson is that?

@Daniel Hawaii These 2 games we cannot use our 10 players rotation perfectly Our advantage are KD's shooting,Russ' explosion and backups but we dont have all of them in this game and Refs sucks ,you cannot hope you can win a game like this.

Our backups are very great,but KD is our biggest advantage.He was lazy this game,but he is a superstar.Compared to him,Batum is nothing

@Legendary_Dork Portland isn't a BIG market team. I think the refs usually blow their whistles for whichever team is being most aggressive. Read in another Thunder blog that KD didn't get his usual foul calls. Stated that there was one instance that wasn't a foul but usually would be called a foul because it was KD. It's not just the market...OFTEN the stars get the foul calls. But usually the star is going toward the basket when this happens. Didn't see much of KD going to the basket during this game.

@deleted_1998213_Don'tStoptheSergeing Russ has the foot speed to be an unbelievable man on man defender. I don't get what the problem is here but there clearly is one. He can't seem to harness the aggressiveness.

@Steve H were you hoping for a 66-0 season? A perfect thunder team with limited practice time, a shorten season, and back to back to backs? Pretty unrealistic i must say. The thunder ARE good man. Even the so called world champs lost their first few games. We went 5-0 and were tech the LAST perfect team. Shesh man, give us a chance ;) lol

@Legendary_Dork I didn't say- or even think- that we are anything other than a good team. I said we aren't as good as I thought we were, and I stand by that comment. Poor effort on defense- no decernable improvement on how we run our half court offence- just a lot of largely unfocused talent. We are not a bad team by any stretch of the imagination, but we sure don't look like the world beaters I was expecting this season.

@Royce Young@RRRWHOAAAA They're fun, but like ThunderChick mentioned they were a bit rough right after the game. If they were pushed back to the next day, folks' heads might be ready for grades. It's hard to look at their smiling little pictures after that kind of game without thinking "Why are you smiling?!?"